Happy 14th Birthday to Mason!

UNBELIEVEABLE that we now have a 14th year old! I mean, he'll be driving us around next year! WOW!

His birthday was on Monday, January 23rd and he had school, an orthodontist appointment, basketball practice, Landon's basketball practice, and THEN we went out to eat.

Here he is modeling his gifts.....skull candy ear phones, the "DONE" hat from the Bama BCS National Championship, and a new pair of Nike shorts

Crazy boy!

So to celebrate with his friends, we let him have a sleepover on Friday night and invite all his buddies. We had 11 boys (plus our 3 kids)......WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!

Let me tell you...this is a CRAZY group of boys! But tons of fun and that's why Mason loves them so much. While Clyde Leonard had already left for the night, the other boys included Brandon Steuver, Kyle Killough, Gabe Kauffman, Cameron Seivert, Brody McGehey, Cash Snooks, Chance Hine, Zac Kujath, Kelton McCoy, and Taed Heydinger.

And they LOVE Mason soooo much too!

AHHHHH....what memories. I survived but what happens at the Owen home, stays at the Owen home. I WILL share with you a text that one of my friends sent me after picking up her son....

"Lost teeth, busted head, and vomit......NOW THAT'S A PARTY"

HMMMMM......I'm speechless!

Christmas in Alabama 2011

This year I got to take my mom out for her birthday, on her birthday so that was really nice. We spent Christmas Eve over at the Owen's and we always have such a great time with everyone....

Look how Brayden has grown! He had a big boo-boo on his nose from falling that day

Here's all the grandchildren on the Owen side...can you imagine the chaos when it's time to open presents? LOL!

Christmas Day was spent over at my aunt's house for my mother's side of the family. I had not been in 4 years so it was great to be together with everyone and see cousins that I haven't see in a while. I sure missed seeing my Aunt Gail there...it's been 2 years since she left us.
We also went over to my dad's for a little while as well.

The day after Christmas was spent with my brothers and their families. Speaking of CHAOS...

Lots of presents + Lots of people + very small living room = a huge mess!
Here are the grandkids on my side of the family.....

Face shot of me with my brothers and mom...

The older girls here with my cousin Joey's daughter Jessica who was visiting here from California

And the men with our special guests for the day......Terry Rob and Joey!

It was so good to see Joey as it had been, I don't know, maybe 10 years since I had seen he and Jessica. I call him my Western Cousin because he is the only other family member who is on my side of the US. Terry Rob (on the bottom with glasses) lives in Gordo and went to school with my brother Kerry. He doesn't have much family or money so every year, he joins us for a little while on Christmas. My brothers are good to pick him up and take him places or let him visit them in their hometown. Terry has definitely become a tradition around the Richardson home at Christmas (I think it's sweet that they want to spend time with him).

I did not get to any of my friends while home and that made me sad. But we will make special efforts the next time we are in Alabama to see all our friends. Mike took the kids along with his brothers and their kids and his nephew Brent to see Alabama play basketball.

This year we played a lot of Bunco and Mexican Train. We are so blessed with families on both sides that have fun together and enjoy each other. Thank you to the Owen's and Richardson's for making Christmas 2012 so special to us!

Christmas 2011

What will I remember about this Christmas?

Two years ago Landon woke us up at 2am to open Sant's gifts. Last year, I told him he couldn't wake us up until 6am. This year I said 4am because we were leaving to go to Alabama hopefully by 6am. So this year, I learned that I must be much more specific when it comes to Landon on the night Santa comes. He and Haven get up at 12:15am and decide to stay up and watch TV until time to get us up. So they sit there until 3:45am, wide eyed, looking at their wrapped gifts, shaking them all (I'm sure).

And here's what they all got! They must have been good little boys and girl this year!





This was the year of LEGOS for Landon

We pulled out for Alabama at 5:30am and made it to Van Buren, AR to spend the night. We made it into AL at 4:30PM on Friday, with a rather uneventful drive this year...an answer to prayer!

Christmas Fun in Vallecito

The Vallecito Service League is a group of women who meet monthly and plan activities for the valley. This year's "Christmas in Vallecito" was bigger than ever with lots of free, fun things to do. The boys did not participate (they preferred to stay at home and watch TV) so Haven had all the fun.

So here is Haven in her fun packed weekend at Christmas in Vallecito..........

Children's Christmas Party where she saw Santa, jumped in the big bouncy house, sledded, and played games for prizes

The Santa Express Train

On the train with her friends Maddie and Chloe...

(Note Lucee in the pic)
The Carriage Rides.....

It's hard to find Haven in that group but she is sitting in the back beside my friend Kyle...

The horses were beautiful...I had to get Haven and Maddie's picture made in front of them to show how big they were!

The ice scuplting contest......

And the dog sledding.....

So cool! How many chances in life do you get to go dog sledding? It was a fun weekend!

Very Random.....

So I'm having a very slow day today at work (which is on computer) so this post is of random pics....

Landon is in a Drum group through the elementary school where they play conga type drums and they performed last Tuesday night at the BES Christmas Concert. Pictures were not good because I was so far away but he is in there somewhere.....

Landon also did his first Science project ever (because it was required) where he tested whether rocks could absorb water. Here is his project board....

These are our new friends Jennifer and Beau Moore. They started coming to our church about 6 weeks ago. They moved here from Memphis, TN to start a ministry for adventurists (msp?)...meaning the snowboarders, skiiers, hikers, ice climbers, mountain bikers, etc.

They have a precious baby boy named Liam who played "Baby Jesus" for us in the live nativity. I am very thankful to have Jennifer in my life and finally feel like I have a friend in the church. PLUS....they are ALABAMA fans!!!

This picture was taken at our house to show the real icicles there along with the fake Christmas icicles lights....

OK..enough randomness...back to work

Just for Mom!

Isn't this just adorable! Our cat "Socks" loves this box and spends hours just sitting and sleeping in it. Isn't this precious, MOM?? (She hates cats...)

My Christmas Baby

My Landon is my Christmas baby. He was due on New Year's Day but came on Dec. 22 via inducement because he was such a big baby. Ten days before his due date he came out weighing a whopping 9 lbs 9 oz. Because his birthday is so close to Christmas, we celebrated early this year because his actual birthday will be overshadowed with gifts from Santa and a travel across America. That's right, on the 22nd we will be leaving for Alabama, after opening gifts from Santa. So last weekend, he invited 3 of his buddies over for pizza, bowling, and a sleepover...

He finally got a much coveted phone that he doesn't have to buy minutes for himself

At Pizza Hut....

At the bowling alley with Max, Angelo, and Jo

Jo (wearing blue) does not believe in God. Landon and Max witness to him regularly so pray along with Landon and I that one day, Jo will be a believer. I feel in my heart that one day Jo will accept Christ because of the seeds that Max and Landon planted. Until then, we are going to just keep praying!

So Happy Birthday to Landon who will be 11 years old on the 22nd!! He sure makes life more interesting and is such a blessing to our family!